The Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, assured on Monday that there was "no
change of trajectory
" in the policy aimed at reducing the use of herbicides, in particular S-metolachlor, whose ban is requested.
"
There is no change in trajectory: the trajectory is a reduction in phytosanitary products
", declared the Minister during a trip to Burgundy.
“
But it has to be done in the right order.
If we ban a molecule in France, we are lying to the French if we say that products do not come from Spain or...
“, He added in reference to the withdrawal procedure initiated by the French Health Security Agency (Anses) concerning S-metolachlor, an agricultural herbicide widely used in France.
Chemical derivatives of this product have been detected above permitted limits in groundwater - and therefore potentially in drinking water.
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Thursday, before the congress of the majority agricultural union, the FNSEA, the minister announced that he had asked the French Agency for Health Security (Anses) to reconsider its desire to ban the main uses of S-metolachlor arousing strong criticism.
"
I am not asking for anything other than to look at the European chronology
", explained the minister who very recently wrote to ANSES, in a letter made public on Twitter, to emphasize that a decision to ban this type of The herbicide may not intervene on the part of the European Commission before November 2024, i.e. much later than what is requested in France.
“
We cannot accept distortions
” between European countries, repeated the minister.
"
24, 36 months, that's what killed the cherry
, "said Mr. Fesneau in reference to the ban on phosmet, considered dangerous, but only able, according to the producers, to neutralize the Asian fly which attack on orchards.
Emphasizing that it was possible to take the time to find “alternatives
”
to condemned herbicides, the minister considered that there was “
no immediate question of public health
”.
